Any gardeners here? Square Foot, even?

[Tuscanytrace]

I'm so excited! I can see the tops of the red/green lettuce blend I planted last month, and my French Breakfast radishes are up! I couldn't remember which squares I'd planted with lettuce and which ones with radishes, so I pulled a shoot and rinsed it off and bit into it to check. It was radish, all right, even though it was about the size of a thread!

I've got bunches of scallions and onions waiting to be set out, and then in a couple of weeks I've got peppers and tomatoes coming. As well as some other things that can't be planted until the soil warms up more (it will be below freezing tonight here).

Anyone else? I'd do a CSA but with three in our family doing low-carb, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense.

[ellenwyo]

Peppers, tomatoes and eggplant seedlings are all doing well.. just planted all the cool weather crops in the greenhouse yesterday - kohlrabi, lettuce, beets, radishes, kale, broccoli, etc.. Still snowing here though, so we won't plant warm weather crops until May.

[lowcarbs4me]

I'm a square foot gardener with a 4 X 4 in my backyard. This year I'm sticking with herbs because they enhance without adding too many carbs. I grow lots of basil because it's so expensive in the store, and I love having fresh parsley and cilantro at my beck and call.

I would love to have a greenhouse. Do you like yours, ellenwyo?

[ellenwyo]

I do. We have three greenhouses on our property and the yields in comparison to our outside garden are much larger. In Wyoming, the wind and long winters are a major factor in growth rates, so the greenhouses really cut down on having to worry about weather.

[brittone2]

We have a CSA membership (3rd year we'e done this). We have a full share and we split it w/ my parents (who also LC).

We put two Sq. Foot beds in this year, and my dad did the same. If the sq ft. gardening goes well, we'll consider reducing to a CSA half share next year and go from there.

I know even w/ our CSA membership, we still end up buying extra veggies, so I don't think we'll waste much at all.

[vli1127]

Any info. or good websites with how to sq. ft. garden?

[lowcarbs4me]

Originally Posted by vli1127

Any info. or good websites with how to sq. ft. garden?

Vicki, I found Mel Bartholomew's official square foot gardening book at my local library. There are some websites on the topic, but I haven't visited in over a year. (Here's a link to Mel Bartholomew's site: Welcome To My Garden! | Square Foot Gardening) Many websites want to sell plans or pre-fab garden parts. I simply followed the directions in the book and built mine for a very low cost with materials from Home Depot. (I had the wood cut to size at the store so I only had to screw parts together.)

[Tesaje]

I'm a long time gardener. Sq ft is a good method. You don't really need to follow that method if you don't want to. The main thing is build up your soil and mulch the veggies to keep soil moisture up and weeds down.

I've got kohlrabi, cabbage, romane lettuce, kale, onions, shallots, broccoli, spinach in. My asparagus bed is just starting to produce. Frost sensitive crops don't go in until after mother's day.

My garden produces so much that I can't eat it all in a year. I've got 6 4x20' beds plus herb beds.

[Agee]

I've got 3 3 x 20 raised beds, plus an asparagus bed, and dh has a 10 x 20 bed that he experiments with...then doesn't weed...so not much happening there!
Lettuce, spinach, peas, broccoli, and collards are doing well here in central NC. This weekend I'll be planting the rest.
A

[FluffyBuffy]

I'm sharing all your excitement! I am also a long time gardener but since moving to Colorado, with the elevation of 6850 I've been a bit challenged. So I just finished making (with hubbies help) a 4 by 10 and a 4 by 4 raised garden. I shoveled and shoveled over 2 yds. of a compost mix that had to be carried to the backyard. It's all measured off for a sq. ft. garden. I have a homeowners assoc. to deal with.... grrrrr. Anyways, I'm making a hoop garden similar to the one in this link.

PPUG - Three Season Raised Beds

We are expecting a snow storm this weekend and I'm going out of town until the end of April. So I'm very impatiently waiting to get things planted! A fence is also going in this week to try to hide things from prying eyes, lol.

[jem51]

i love gardening but don't eat as much produce as in the past so i'm just growing zucch and tomatoes. i have not put in a permanent garden spot since i've moved here so used some concrete blocks (had to move them to a sunnier spot this year). i had a big sheet of plastic which was spread over the ground then i filled it w soil, compost and peat. the great thing about the plastic is that my garden never dries out which is big since this area gets NO rain once summer kicks in. in fact, no rain til october.
i have a permanent herb garden, a strawberry bed and, about 3 years ago, put in a dozen blueberries, raspberries and fruit trees. the pear and apple tree have yet to produce but the cherry trees give me something every year and the plum trees are good producers.
i just love growing things. it is so satisfying. i cannot imagine not having a garden.

[ejoy]

I'm excited to read this post! We are starting our SFG this year. We're a little because my husband nearly cut off his thumb cutting the slats for the squares! We have a 4 x 4 which we planted asparagus roots in and a 8 x 4 which I hope to plant today. I have radishes, carrots, lettuces, beets, corn. I went hog wild on the seeds, so we'll see!

[PMoon]

This'll be my second year to have a garden. Last year, I did 4 raised beds. This year, I have a 25' x 25' garden tilled up, plus the original 4 beds (two of which I turned into asparagus beds.) Man, I can't believe I have to wait two years to eat that asparagus. It's one of my favorites and cost a fortune at the store!

So far, I have planted onions, garlic, radishes, three types of lettuce, peas, beans, tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, watermelon, cantaloup, carrots, and some herbs.

I will probably set out new tomato transplants at least once a month until August to extend the season as long as possible. I love tomatoes.

I've still got to get some eggplant and zucchini. I have a couple of more rows available and have been trying to decide what to put in there. We don't eat a huge variety of veggies. But we eat a lot. LOL

I've been harvesting the lettuce and radishes for a while. I'm so excited for everything else to get going! I'm going to freeze and can as much of the stuff as I can so we can keep right on eating it.

P. Moon

[kimberino]

I did my first square foot gardens (2 4x20's) last year. I tried a lot of different veggies but this year am sticking to beans, squash and tomatoes, the things I most enjoy. "Unfortunately", I found out I was allergic to some of the oils on the veg plants so hubby has to do all the hard work at harvest time.

[vli1127]

I got the book and have read it. Now I just need to get out and get the materials and decide what I want to plant. I won't be planting asparagus, yucky. LOL

[weasel!]

We built a 6x3 raised SFG last year and are excited to plant again over the next couple of weekends. We also just got wind of the EarthTainer (not trainer, tainer, as in container) method of growing tomatoes and will be building one or two of these. It's a self-irrigating system that you build yourself -- check out these links:

Home Page

The EarthTainer™

More info can be found via Google search for "earthtainer."

[mamabear6]

We live in a rental, so I do all my planting in containers. This year I'm doing bush variety green beans, tomatoes, wax beans, peppers, parsley&basil&chives, and if I can round up enough ghetto plastic containers that I can drill drainage holes in, some more strawberry plants & lettuces! Seriously only 4 of my containers are actual pots bought at the store. The rest are recycled 3-5 gallon buckets or storage containers! May not look too glamorous, but I love gardening and I'll do it any way I can. We don't have a lot of money! I'm also planting some sunflowers for my daughter.

[Mommy2aCutie]

I have two sfg right now...I have romaine, spinach, tomatoes, squash,peppers, cauliflower, strawberries.....never done this befores....so I will see how it goes...I would love to see pics if anyone has any....

[Houston Heather]

Yup, SFG - organic.

I have 5 beds, each 4x4.

I'm growing tomatoes, vining squash, cucumbers, eggplant, lots of onions, greens (chard and collards), and some fun stuff like scented geraniums and all.

Plenty of photos here: Picasa Web Albums - Heather - March 2009

[weasel!]

We built our first EarthTainer today! We planted one Mortgage Lifter and one Wisconsin 55. I'm excited about the self-watering concept. We're going to retrofit our whisky barrel with a self-watering system, also. Tomorrow I'll plant a bunch of seedings in our SFG.

[BikerAng]

we have so many slugs and snails they always eat all of my plants and veggies, and flowers! I've tried almost everything (aside from netting) but the critters are just too many. The only thing they don't touch are my herbs, have lots of those! Maybe I'll try containers and put netting around them, I really want to grow my own!

[CindyCRNA]

MamaBear, like you, all of my gardening is in a container. I have 12 basil (it freezes so well!) 6 rosemary, an oregano, a japaleno, a Yellow Boy tomato and a Black Krim old heirloom tomato. I'm placing deer netting on the tomatoes to keep the squirrels off them. I love to garden and flower garden also. Have a couple of rose trees and a lot of potted stuff. This will be a fun thread with all you gardeners. I even mail order Greensand for my roses!

[Berkley69]

We just made a garden from scratch and so far I have Daikon and Swiss Chard in the ground and still to be transplanted: lettuce, spinach, crookneck squash, green beans, broccoli, cauliflower. Also bought 2 blueberry plants that I just put outside in pots.

[vli1127]

Tonight I planted my garden. It is a container garden. I purchased 4 plastic sweater boxes and drilled holes for drainage. I also have the 10" round planters that flowers come in. In the sweater boxes I planted two kinds of lettuce, spinach, onions, radishes, carrots, peas and beets. In the round ones, red, yellow and green peppers, tomato, cucumbers and green beans. We will see what happens.

[Houston Heather]

We're eating tomatoes. I planted them in late Feb and had to nurse them through several nasty cold snaps.

[SnowWhite]

Originally Posted by Houston Heather

Yup, SFG - organic.

I have 5 beds, each 4x4.

I'm growing tomatoes, vining squash, cucumbers, eggplant, lots of onions, greens (chard and collards), and some fun stuff like scented geraniums and all.

Plenty of photos here: Picasa Web Albums - Heather - March 2009

what are the plastic containers over the plants for? is it like a mini greenhouse effect?

[Tuscanytrace]

I now am harvesting radishes. Should be harvesting lettuce, but it has been SO cold here! Here it is May and it's in the 50's out!

Next Tuesday, I have nine different tomatoes and peppers coming; plus I should be able to pick up the two peppers I ordered from a local nursery--they will start unusual seeds if you request them and they think they're interesting enough.

Can't wait! I need to get a few containers, because I went a little nuts on the tomatoes and peppers...two of them will be planted in my rose beds, though.

[meryjo]

I just want to plant a few salad items that would be easy to care for from my chair on the deck! Got a patio tomato, leaf letuce and herbs going but wondering if a cucumber will grow down successfully over the side of a deck or will it be stunted by fighting to grow up and would produce better on a trellis? Anyone tried it?

[vli1127]

I haven't tried it but I did read Barthalamew's square foot garden book and he grows upright, even melons on a special frame. I don't see why a trellis wouldn't work.

[PMoon]

Hey, can I post a link here? We look to have a lot of herb gardeners in the bunch. I put a tutorial for preserving basil up on my blog. Wanna see?

The Thinker's Rock: Preserving Basil - Salt Method

P. Moon